MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell is joining 42 of his colleagues from across the country in asking the Food and Drug Administration to require manufacturers of generic prescription pain relievers to develop tamper-resistant versions of their products.

Sorrell says that in Vermont and other states prescription drug abuse has reached epidemic levels and requiring abuse-deterrent pain killing prescription drugs is a commonsense improvement that is another tool in the fight against drug abuse.

The attorneys general asked the FDA to provide “clear and fair regulatory standards for the incorporation of abuse-deterrent technologies into generic opioids.”